Don’t get your hopes up if you go under the knife

Expectations about the benefits of cosmetic surgery can easily get overblown. The latest research, published in the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, used 50 objective observers to rate attractiveness and age from anonymous photos.

These photos were taken of 49 patients before and at least six months after their surgery, which was performed by the same Canadian surgeon.

The patients were aged between 42 and 73 years old, and none of the assessors saw pre- and post-operative shots of the same patient, in case they deduced the study’s aim.

The assessors each received binders of a selection of photos. Overall, there was a minimal change in attractiveness between the before and after photos.

On average, the assessors estimated the patients’ ages to be about 2.1 years younger than their chronological age before surgery.

After surgery they estimated them to be an average of 5.2 years younger, meaning there was only a 3.1-year benefit overall.

These patients had only been through surgery and had not had associated procedures to smooth the rough spots or fill the gaps. One commentator suggested this was confusing for the assessors because parts of the face still looked older. There was inconsistency.

The view that the more procedures people have, the more youthful they look, was reinforced in a facial rejuvenation study in 2011 that showed that while a facelift alone took away 4.6 years, laser resurfacing took off another 2.5 years.